The Hope

BFF-II is thinking he needs an iPhone cos he gets lonely without his MSN. Our short weekend catch up across the borders on his lousy lappie, we mutually agreed that people don't talk anymore. Which is one of the things I marvel at.

Ben once asked why do I need so many instant chat applications running - yes, I have 4 (Yahoo, Windows Live, Skype, GoogleTalk) and that number would increase to 5 if you were to include the built-in one on Facebook. And my reply was that different friends use different applications and so it's best if I had an account in each one and ran them all.

Sadly, that is indeed the harsh realities of our lives today. Instant chats and short-message texts. Folks asks for your number these days, and you can bet you'll never quite hear their voice on the other end but will receive a deluge of beeps from them.

Once upon a time, I was well and truly happy to not speak to another human being for days on end. I recall how Sen asked if he should step out the door, sit in the car and for us to continue our conversation via SMS cos the cat really got my tongue. But now, I'd much rather hear the voice and laugh on the other end of the line or table, sense the warmth of a smile and all that jazz that comes with actually knowing the you're not talking to yourself.

Everyone is different and thus engages different ways of staying connected. My best buddy can go for weeks and months on end not seeing me in the flash cos we start almost each day with a short "Good morning" beeped in. BFF on the other hand, would be there on GoogleTalk from the start of the work day till the end, but we'll still have a physical face-to-face lunch thrown in at least 2 out of 3 days in the week. And Ben just beeps but makes it a point to not go more than a couple of weeks at most, work permitting. 

And that, to me is my hope. 

An iPhone may be a solution, but it is NOT the only solution. So long as more people realise that - then perhaps we would not all lead such disjointed lives at the end of the day.